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I have a little problem. I'm addicted to cookbooks, food writing, recipe collecting, and cooking. I have a lot of recipes waiting for me to try them, and ideas from articles, tv, and restaurants often lead to new dishes. I started losing track of what I've done. So now I'm taking photos and writing about what I've prepared—unless it's terrible in which case I forget it ever happened.

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Thursday, May 24, 2012

It doesn’t even matter how late I am in getting to an issue of Donna Hay magazine. Every time, there is page after page of food I can’t wait to cook. The last issue I read was #60 which appeared at Christmastime in Australia, hence there are several cute Christmas cookies in it, but it was on our newsstands in March. There’s a strawberry lime and coconut pie, mini strawberry tarte tatins, and strawberry and lychee sorbet. I need to hurry to try those while strawberries are in season. Following those recipes is a story about curing fish with several beautiful and delicious-sounding salt mixes, and I’ll get back to those as soon as I can. Then, there was the roasted potato, asparagus, and herb salad which I made immediately. It reminded me a little of another Donna Hay salad with potatoes that I first made a few years ago, but this version was tossed with a mustard vinaigrette rather than a creamy dressing. You see how this goes? There’s seriously something I have to try on every page. When I arrived at the end of the issue, I learned a new Donna Hay book had been released. It’s called Simple Dinners, and unfortunately, it’s not available on Amazon right now. Hopefully, it will be soon. There were a few pages extracted from the book in this issue, and that’s where I saw this dish of Chile Chicken Noodles with Spicy Broth. It was incredibly simple to prepare as promised by the name of the book, and it involves a great trick to getting a nice glaze on the chicken pieces which I foolishly doubted at first.

There are three parts to the recipe. Rice noodles were cooked and set aside. Then, a spicy broth was made was simmering ginger, chiles, and some Shaoxing wine in chicken or vegetable stock. The third part is the chicken itself. Pieces of sliced chicken breast were tossed with chile jam, and I used a locally-made jalapeno jelly. After coating the chicken well, the pieces were cooked in a little oil in a frying pan. The noodles were divided between bowls and covered with the spicy broth. The sticky, sweet, and spicy chicken was placed on top, and the bowls were garnished with green onion, or garlic chives from my garden and purple spring onions in my case, and cilantro.

I wasn’t sure it would be a good idea to put the chile jelly or jam on the chicken as it cooked since I thought it might burn. I wondered if it would be better to coat the chicken after it had cooked. I tried a couple of pieces of chicken that way, and I was wrong. Coating the chicken after it cooked failed to give it a good glaze. Since the sliced chicken pieces were small enough to cook quickly, the jelly had just enough time to slightly brown and form a sticky glaze as it should. Now I have another quick meal with big flavor to turn to when I need it. And, I have several more recipes from that magazine to try.

Wow! This is one of those rare dishes on a blog that make me want to lick my screen - and make it immediately! I agree about the effect Donna Hay magazines has on you... everything looks stunning and mouthwatering. Thrilled to see how one turns out in real life and I love it! The chicken glaze is fabulous and that broth perfect!

Lisa, you're definitely one of my favorite blogs to read. I always love seeing what you'll post next and seeing the diversity in your recipes. You're clearly well-read and very talented in the kitchen. Thanks for always keeping me inspired!

Donna Hay recipes are always fantastic. And the photos are just irresistible. This soup is indulgent without being too rich and heavy, delicious. (I'm glad to hear I'm not the only one who takes liberties with recipes!) Your soup photo is terrific!

What a delicious recipe! I did wonder whether putting a glaze on the chicken would burn it too - glad it turned out well for you. The Jalepeno jelly looks like handy preserve to have in your store cupboard - would you have any suggestions for replacements? Not sure I can get it in Hong Kong :-)

Lovely shots- I especially love the pic of those purple spring onions. This noodle dish looks and sounds like a winner. So glad to hear Donna Hay is putting out a cookbook. Just added it to my wishlist so I don't forget.

It's been rainy and cold today, so I just would really like that spicy chicken noodle soup. Right now. I've heard from several people that Donna Hay is all pretty pictures and useless content, but I'm glad you proved them wrong!